Island



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MOSES Gr. FARMER, OF NEWVPORT, RHODE ISLAND.

METALLIC SHINGLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 326,108, dated September 15, 1885.

Application filed July 9, 1885. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MosEs G. FARMER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Newport, in the county of Newport and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Metallic Shingles, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the drawings accompanying and forming a part of the same.

In a patent granted to me April 21, 1885, No. 316,134, 1 have shown and described a shingle for roofing purposes made or formed of sheet-iron and coated with a non-corrosive metalsuch as copperthe latter metal being applied by electro-deposition'in a film of even thickness over the entire surface of the sheetiron.

My present invention is an improvement on this device; and it consists in a sheet iron shingle coated or plated with a copper film which is thicker on that portion of the shingle which in use is exposed directly to the weather than on that which is covered,and in a measure protected by the overlapping tiers or rows of shingles above it. Amore durable, andin the end a more economical, shingle is thus pro duced for the following reasons: The copper eoating,being practically non-corrosive,is not affected by moisture or other destructive agents where it is covered by the overlapping shingles. The exposed portions of the shingles are, however, subject to the attrition of rain, hail, snow, and other bodies and more likely to be worn off in use. As soon as any portion, however small, of the copper sheathing is destroyed or worn off the destruction of the shingle goes on with considerable rapidity on aoeount 0f galvanic actionybut by making the film of copper thicker on the exposed portion than on the other the life of the shingle is greatly prolonged and a saving of expensive material effected.

The copper coating may be applied in any liquid lowered until only such portions of the plates as project from the overlapping tier where the shingles are. laid, or a little more, remain below the surface of the solution of the bath. The electro-deposition is then continued until the said parts are covered with a film of the desired thickness. The shingles thus made are used or laid in the same manner as wooden or slate shingles. y

The drawings represent a convenient form of apparatus for applying the copper coat or film to the shingles.

Figure l is a sectional view of an electroplating bath,showing a shingle in position for receiving its firstor thin coating. Fig. 2 is a similar view of a bath with the shingle partial] y raised therefrom.

My method of manufacture is as follows: In a suitable deposition tank or bath, A, I immerse a sheet of ordinary rolled iron of the desired shape and size, as B, and I allow it to remain in the bath until itis perfectly coated with a thin film of the deposited-metal. I then raise the sheet out of the solution until only one-half or less remains below the surface, and I then continue the process of eleetro-deposition until the lower portion is re-enforced by a coating twice or three times as thick as that applied to theuppcr portion.

- The absolute and relative thicknesses of these coatings may vary considerably. If the thinner coating be of such thickness that it completely envelopes theiron sheet,it' is sufficient, and the thicker portion may be as much thicker than this as the quality of the iron, the proposed use of the shingles, or other causes may determine.

Many plans may be adopted for applying the two coatings or two partsof the:coatings to the shingles, and the proportional parts of the entire shingles which each portion covers may vary considerably,according to circumstances; but my invention depends neither upon the special method of manufacture nor upon the precise form of shingle which I have herein shown and described. I

In my patent referred to I haveshown shingles of various ornamental shapes, and have shown as the means forlaying them two or more perforations properly placed, and to all these forms this my invention equally applies.

What I claim is-- l 1. As anew article of manufacture, acopperplated sheet-iron shingle the coating or pla ing of which is thicker on the lower or exposed portion of the shingle than on the remaining portion, as set forth.

2. The combinatian, with a sheet-iron shingle, of a protective coating of eieetro-deposit-ed copper, the coating being re-enforeed or deposited tea greater thickness over one-half,

or thereabout, of the shingle than on the remainder as set forth.

MOSES G. FARMER. Vi tn esses:

WILLIAM B. HEATHERTON, A. BOURNE. 

